Not the Color Purple: Black Feminist Lessons for Educational Caring

Abstract

In this article, Audrey Thompson offers a critique of the "colorblindness" found both in the psychological literature on caring and in theories of caring in education. Thompson argues that, insofar as theories of care fail to acknowledge and address the Whiteness of their political and cultural assumptions, they are in effect colorblind. She calls for a reexamination of the Whiteness embedded in these colorblind theories, which have been universally framed and have thus sidestepped the issues of racial imbalance implicit in colorblindness. She adds to the critique of these theories by showing how differently some of the themes that have proved generative for theories of care might have been interpreted if a Black feminist perspective rather than a liberal White feminist perspective had been assumed. Following her critique of four key themes—the moral relevance of the situation, the primacy of survival, the significance of the standpoint from which values are understood, and the moral power of narrative—Thompson calls our attention to how we think about, develop, and implement an anti-racist curriculum and practice in classrooms. Her point is that colorblindness in teaching and learning situations limits us from benefiting from other perspectives that may inform educational practice. To overcome these limitations, Thompson suggests that theorists and teachers reexamine their approaches and ideologies, and include perspectives of caring that are based in non-White and/or poor cultures in their work. (pp. 522-554)